Thesis (Ed. D.)--Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1981. / Vita. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1981. / Vita. Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-356). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1945. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 220-235) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1971. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 316-322).

In recent years, personalized learning has become a buzzword in the field of education and an approach that schools across the United States have adopted in their attempts to account for the diverse interests, aspirations, and needs of their students. Despite the growing interest in personalized learning, there is a dearth of empirical research on this educational approach, particularly as it relates to the student experience. Given the paucity of research in this area, little is known about the extent to which personalized learning can offer students a more beneficial quality of experience than traditional educational methods. This question is further complicated by the fact that personalized learning has been defined and put into practice in diverse ways. Given these conditions, the purpose of this study was to explore students' experiences with more humanistic forms of personalized learning at three high schools in Vermont. A pragmatic approach to qualitative research was used along with self-determination theory (SDT) as a framework to investigate students' perceptions of their autonomy, competence, relatedness, motivation, and well-being within the context of personalized learning. SDT was used as framework because it offers a lens for analyzing how social contexts affect people's experiences and proposes that individuals experience higher qualities of motivation, engagement, and performance when their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met. Study findings, which are based on interviews with 28 students from three Vermont high schools, suggest participants generally felt autonomous, competent, and related in their personalized learning environments, which contributed to their intrinsic motivation, engagement, and well-being within these settings. Some features of personalized learning that supported multiple facets of students' basic psychological needs were the individualized nature of instruction, student-driven curriculum, and structures that enabled and supported community-based learning. Although many students suggested personalized learning supported their basic psychological needs, some struggled to direct and manage their own learning, which diminished their feelings of competence while others indicated that the individualized nature of their projects undermined their sense of relatedness to their peers. Overall, the findings indicate that humanistic approaches to personalized learning have the potential to contribute to a more beneficial quality of experience for high school students than traditional educational methods. The study has implications for educational policy and practice as it suggests personalization may be an effective approach for engaging a variety of students with their education and promoting the skills and dispositions for lifelong learning.

A presente tese tem por objetivo investigar junto a professores da educação profissional o desenvolvimento de criticidade a partir de práticas pedagógicas que utilizam as ferramentas fórum e editor de texto coletivo. O estudo se desenvolveu sobre uma base composta de quatro eixos: humanismo, crítica, educação profissional e recursos tecnológicos. O foco do primeiro eixo está na educação humanista. O segundo eixo dá destaque às diferentes compreensões de crítica que perpassam a história. O cenário da educação profissional é o foco do terceiro eixo. No quarto eixo são tratados os recursos tecnológicos, com ênfase nas ferramentas fórum e editor de texto coletivo. A pesquisa é desenvolvida em uma abordagem qualitativa a partir da estratégia de pesquisa estudo de caso. Com o fim de coletar dados, foram realizados três cursos de extensão na modalidade semipresencial. As fontes de pesquisa utilizadas foram: entrevista e observações das ações e dos registros dos sujeitos participantes da pesquisa nas ferramentas fórum, editor de texto coletivo e editor de texto Word. O estudo mostra que o entendimento de crítica é uma construção que envolve a inserção de três aspectos: sentido político, função de julgamento, e análise, questionamento e reflexão. Estes aspectos, em diferentes graus e formas, já estavam presentes na compreensão dos sujeitos acerca de crítica. Contudo, as evidências indicam que as práticas pedagógicas dialógicas podem ter contribuído para a inserção de novos elementos. Com relação a um alinhamento com as concepções hegemônicas e contra-hegemônicas, os dados apontam três diferentes possibilidades: professores que apresentam traços de uma e outra concepção; professores com discurso mais alinhado à concepção hegemônica; e professores com discurso mais alinhado à concepção contra-hegemônica. A pesquisa indica ainda que o modelo de competências e o viés utilitarista da educação profissional estão naturalizados, ou seja, são aceitos e não questionados, contribuindo para que a concepção hegemônica mostre sua força e presença na educação. Os dados confirmam o caráter dialógico das ferramentas fórum e editor de texto coletivo, e indicam que, devido as suas diferentes características, podem ser utilizadas com diferentes propósitos e em diferentes momentos das práticas pedagógicas. O estudo conclui que se desenvolve criticidade na medida em que elementos/aspectos que compõem um entendimento de crítica se inserem na compreensão e nas ações dos sujeitos até o ponto em que crítica seja transformadora da realidade. Assim, o fato de não haver evidências de uma fase inicial de criticização pode sugerir que a criticidade pode ser desenvolvida em diferentes contextos, inclusive os educacionais, mas não somente. Para esta pesquisa, havendo a intenção docente, práticas pedagógicas dialógicas que utilizem o fórum e editor de texto coletivo podem contribuir para que aspectos de crítica se insiram na compreensão e na ação crítica dos alunos. A ausência destas práticas em contexto de educação profissional pode, por outro lado, contribuir para a perpetuação de uma hegemonia que mantém seus interesses por meio de um professor, uma escola e um aluno não críticos. / The present Ph.D. dissertation aims to investigate, alongside teachers of professional education, the development of criticality from teaching practices that employ tools such as forum and collective text editor. This research is conducted upon four branches: humanism, criticism, professional education, and technological resources. The focus of the first branch lies on the humanistic education. The second branch sheds lights on the different interpretations concerning criticism throughout history. The context of professional education is the point of the third branch. In the fourth branch, technological resources are addressed, with emphasis on tools such as forum and collective text editor. This inquiry is carried out from a qualitative approach based on the research strategy known as case study. Three extension courses in blended mode have been offered with the purpose of data collection. The research sources that have been utilized were interviews and observations of the actions and records related to the subjects participating in the study in the following tools: forum, collective text editor and Word text editor. The exploration shows that the understanding of criticism is a construction involving three aspects: political sense, judgment function, and analysis, questioning and reflection. When it comes to the awareness of criticism, theses aspects had already been conceived by the subjects to certain degrees and forms. Nevertheless, evidence indicates that dialogic teaching practices may have contributed to the insertion of new elements. Regarding an alignment with hegemonic and counter-hegemonic conceptions, the data reveal three different possibilities: teachers who have traits of one and other conception; teachers whose discourse is more aligned to the hegemonic conception; and teachers whose discourse is more aligned to the counter-hegemonic conception. This study demonstrates that the competency model and the utilitarian perspective of professional teaching are naturalized. In other words, they are accepted and not questioned, optimizing the force and presence of the hegemonic conception towards education. The data also confirm the dialogic character of the previously mentioned tools, forum and collective text editor, and signal that they may be utilized for different purposes and on diverse moments of the teaching practices due to their various features. This research remarks that criticality is developed as the elements/aspects composing an understanding of criticism are included in the comprehension and actions of the subjects until criticism transforms reality. Thus, the fact that there is no evidence of an introductory phase of criticalization may suggest that criticality can be developed in different contexts, including the educational framework, but not only this one. In terms of the present study, given pedagogical purposes, dialogic teaching practices that employ forum and collective text editor may enable criticism aspects to be inserted in the comprehension and critical action of students. The absence of such practices in a professional education context might, on the other hand, strengthen the perpetuation of a hegemony that keeps its interests by means of noncritical teachers, schools and students.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2003. / Advisor: John Fox. Includes bibliographical references ( leaves 240-250). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.T.) -- School for International Training, 2007 / Advisor -- Bonnie Mennell Includes bibliographical references (pages 85-86).

A presente tese tem por objetivo investigar junto a professores da educação profissional o desenvolvimento de criticidade a partir de práticas pedagógicas que utilizam as ferramentas fórum e editor de texto coletivo. O estudo se desenvolveu sobre uma base composta de quatro eixos: humanismo, crítica, educação profissional e recursos tecnológicos. O foco do primeiro eixo está na educação humanista. O segundo eixo dá destaque às diferentes compreensões de crítica que perpassam a história. O cenário da educação profissional é o foco do terceiro eixo. No quarto eixo são tratados os recursos tecnológicos, com ênfase nas ferramentas fórum e editor de texto coletivo. A pesquisa é desenvolvida em uma abordagem qualitativa a partir da estratégia de pesquisa estudo de caso. Com o fim de coletar dados, foram realizados três cursos de extensão na modalidade semipresencial. As fontes de pesquisa utilizadas foram: entrevista e observações das ações e dos registros dos sujeitos participantes da pesquisa nas ferramentas fórum, editor de texto coletivo e editor de texto Word. O estudo mostra que o entendimento de crítica é uma construção que envolve a inserção de três aspectos: sentido político, função de julgamento, e análise, questionamento e reflexão. Estes aspectos, em diferentes graus e formas, já estavam presentes na compreensão dos sujeitos acerca de crítica. Contudo, as evidências indicam que as práticas pedagógicas dialógicas podem ter contribuído para a inserção de novos elementos. Com relação a um alinhamento com as concepções hegemônicas e contra-hegemônicas, os dados apontam três diferentes possibilidades: professores que apresentam traços de uma e outra concepção; professores com discurso mais alinhado à concepção hegemônica; e professores com discurso mais alinhado à concepção contra-hegemônica. A pesquisa indica ainda que o modelo de competências e o viés utilitarista da educação profissional estão naturalizados, ou seja, são aceitos e não questionados, contribuindo para que a concepção hegemônica mostre sua força e presença na educação. Os dados confirmam o caráter dialógico das ferramentas fórum e editor de texto coletivo, e indicam que, devido as suas diferentes características, podem ser utilizadas com diferentes propósitos e em diferentes momentos das práticas pedagógicas. O estudo conclui que se desenvolve criticidade na medida em que elementos/aspectos que compõem um entendimento de crítica se inserem na compreensão e nas ações dos sujeitos até o ponto em que crítica seja transformadora da realidade. Assim, o fato de não haver evidências de uma fase inicial de criticização pode sugerir que a criticidade pode ser desenvolvida em diferentes contextos, inclusive os educacionais, mas não somente. Para esta pesquisa, havendo a intenção docente, práticas pedagógicas dialógicas que utilizem o fórum e editor de texto coletivo podem contribuir para que aspectos de crítica se insiram na compreensão e na ação crítica dos alunos. A ausência destas práticas em contexto de educação profissional pode, por outro lado, contribuir para a perpetuação de uma hegemonia que mantém seus interesses por meio de um professor, uma escola e um aluno não críticos. / The present Ph.D. dissertation aims to investigate, alongside teachers of professional education, the development of criticality from teaching practices that employ tools such as forum and collective text editor. This research is conducted upon four branches: humanism, criticism, professional education, and technological resources. The focus of the first branch lies on the humanistic education. The second branch sheds lights on the different interpretations concerning criticism throughout history. The context of professional education is the point of the third branch. In the fourth branch, technological resources are addressed, with emphasis on tools such as forum and collective text editor. This inquiry is carried out from a qualitative approach based on the research strategy known as case study. Three extension courses in blended mode have been offered with the purpose of data collection. The research sources that have been utilized were interviews and observations of the actions and records related to the subjects participating in the study in the following tools: forum, collective text editor and Word text editor. The exploration shows that the understanding of criticism is a construction involving three aspects: political sense, judgment function, and analysis, questioning and reflection. When it comes to the awareness of criticism, theses aspects had already been conceived by the subjects to certain degrees and forms. Nevertheless, evidence indicates that dialogic teaching practices may have contributed to the insertion of new elements. Regarding an alignment with hegemonic and counter-hegemonic conceptions, the data reveal three different possibilities: teachers who have traits of one and other conception; teachers whose discourse is more aligned to the hegemonic conception; and teachers whose discourse is more aligned to the counter-hegemonic conception. This study demonstrates that the competency model and the utilitarian perspective of professional teaching are naturalized. In other words, they are accepted and not questioned, optimizing the force and presence of the hegemonic conception towards education. The data also confirm the dialogic character of the previously mentioned tools, forum and collective text editor, and signal that they may be utilized for different purposes and on diverse moments of the teaching practices due to their various features. This research remarks that criticality is developed as the elements/aspects composing an understanding of criticism are included in the comprehension and actions of the subjects until criticism transforms reality. Thus, the fact that there is no evidence of an introductory phase of criticalization may suggest that criticality can be developed in different contexts, including the educational framework, but not only this one. In terms of the present study, given pedagogical purposes, dialogic teaching practices that employ forum and collective text editor may enable criticism aspects to be inserted in the comprehension and critical action of students. The absence of such practices in a professional education context might, on the other hand, strengthen the perpetuation of a hegemony that keeps its interests by means of noncritical teachers, schools and students.